IFS Unleashed: AVEVA on Why Industrial AI Is More About Data Than Algorithms

What if the biggest obstacle to industrial AI isn't the technology itself, but the data businesses are trying to use with it? And how much could manufacturers and industrial operators achieve if they could connect information from across the entire life of their assets? Recording live at IFS Unleashed 2026 in Orlando, Neil C. Hughes speaks with Shawn Gregerson, VP APM & MES Business Development at AVEVA, about how industrial companies are using AI, operational data, and predictive maintenance to improve reliability and make more informed business decisions. Shawn explains why industrial AI is increasingly becoming a data challenge rather than an algorithmic one. Although AI models and analytical techniques have developed significantly, many organizations still struggle with disconnected information spread across engineering, operations, maintenance, and asset management systems. The conversation examines how AVEVA is bringing these different sources together through its industrial knowledge graph technology, creating a more reliable foundation for AI applications that need to understand the relationships between assets, processes, and operational conditions. They also discuss the growing financial pressures facing industrial organizations. Shawn highlights the increasing cost of downtime and the challenge of maintaining assets that are operating beyond their original design life. With AVEVA and IFS working together on Continuous Asset Decision Intelligence, or CADi, the discussion turns to connecting asset planning, design, operations, maintenance, and optimization so that decisions can be informed by real operating conditions. Shawn also shares where industrial AI is already delivering results, including predictive maintenance systems that monitor equipment health, identify early warning signs, and help maintenance teams determine what action to take before failures occur. Other applications include predictive quality, manufacturing throughput, and the use of generative AI to make industrial information easier to access. Looking beyond individual applications, they consider how connected industrial data could support agentic workflows and enable businesses to automate more of the tasks that employees currently perform manually. As industrial organizations face pressure to improve efficiency while extending the life of existing equipment, could connecting their operational data deliver greater value than investing in increasingly sophisticated AI models alone? Listen to the conversation and share your thoughts on how industrial AI is changing maintenance, asset management, and operational decision-making.